February 17, 2006
Venezuela demands explanation of Rice's comments

(EFE) - Caracas will demand an explanation of U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's reference to alleged international support for a non-existent transit strike in this Andean nation as a measure supposedly meant to 'defend the Venezuelan people' from the leftist government of Hugo Chávez.

Deputy Foreign Minister Mari Pili Hernández announced plans for the diplomatic protest in a statement to reporters after a meeting with visiting U.S. diplomats.

'We are going to request an explanation. I have done so verbally and later we will do it in writing before the U.S. government in relation to what the secretary of state meant by this kind of reference,' Hernández said.

She went on to reiterate Venezuela's demand for an end to U.S. 'interventionism' here, but at the same time stressed Caracas' desire for good relations with the United States based on mutual respect.

Hernández said that mention of the transit strike came in the written testimony Rice submitted to the Interna-tional Relations Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives during her appearance before the panel.

Neither the State Department nor the congressional panel has released that testimony, though news reports said the secretary called on international labor organizations to back striking workers in Venezuela.

Rice, according to the Venezuelan official, highlighted the usefulness of international support for a strike by bus drivers in Venezuela.

Given the current absence of such a work stoppage, Hernández said that she found it 'profoundly worrisome' that Rice should specifically refer to the non-existent strike, 'because this evidently reflects another type of plan.'

The deputy foreign minister said that the purported comment by Rice indicates an effort 'to again create a situation of social instability in Venezuela in the face of the presidential elections of Dec. 3,' in which Chávez is seeking to extend his mandate to 2013.

According to Hernández, foes of Chávez are seeking to 'use Venezuelan workers or sectors of the country's economy as in 2002, as cannon-fodder to generate instability in Venezuela.'

The abortive coup against Chávez on April 11, 2002, came amid protests and a walkout by senior executives at the state-owned oil company, who later that year joined unions and segments of the business community in mounting a general strike aimed at forcing the president to step down.

Though the strike failed to oust Chávez, it briefly crippled Venezuela's vital oil industry. The country is the world's fifth-leading exporter of crude and the No. 4 supplier to the United States.(...)

Earlier this week, the U.S. envoy in Caracas said that the United States and Venezuela had opened a dialogue aimed at improving their deteriorated bilateral relationship, which has long been marked by mutual recriminations over Washington's 'imperialism' and Chávez' 'totalitarian intentions.'

William Brownfield told local television in Caracas that the top U.S. diplomat for Latin America, Thomas Shannon, met in Washington with Venezuelan Ambassador Bernardo Álvarez to reiterate the Bush administration's willingness to try to iron things out.

But in her public congressional testimony, Rice said in response to a lawmaker's question that Venezuelan policies represent 'one of the biggest problems we face,' and she characterized Chávez' close ties with communist Cuba as 'particularly dangerous.'

Chávez responded to Rice's remarks by citing the apparent about-face from the more conciliatory approach touted by Brownfield earlier this week.

'Two days ago a report reached me - I received it with the greatest enthusiasm - and today this (Rice's testimony) comes out. They're crazy!,' Chávez told reporters at the presidential palace, referring to U.S. policymakers.

The Venezuelan president said that every time an effort is made to repair the battered bilateral relationship, 'the hawks come out' in Washington to sabotage the fence-mending initiative".